The Founder's Building is the original building of

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

(RHUL), in

Egham Egham ( ) is a university town in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. First settled in the Bronze Age, the town was under the control of Chertsey Abbey for much of the Middle Ages. In 1215, Magna ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

, England. It is an example of French-Renaissance-style architecture in the United Kingdom, having been modelled on French chateaus such as

Château de Chambord The Château de Chambord () in Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France, is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with cla ...

. Today it is the dominant building on the campus.

History

The construction of the building began in 1874, and was completed in 1881. The building and the college were a £600,000 "gift to the nation" by the

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

Thomas Holloway : Thomas Holloway (22 September 180026 December 1883) was an English patent medicine vendor and philanthropist. Early life Holloway was born in Devonport, Plymouth, Devon, the eldest son of Thomas and Mary Holloway (née Chellew), who at the t ...

. It was designed by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

William Henry Crossland, and inspired by the

in the Loire Valley,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The building was officially opened in 1886 by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

, who allowed the use of "Royal" in the college's name by Royal mandate. A statue of Queen Victoria sits in the centre of the north quadrangle. The centre of the south quadrangle contains a statue of Thomas Holloway and his wife

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. The marble statues were sculpted by Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (Count Gleichen). The Founder's Building houses the Picture Gallery, containing a collection of over 70 pieces of

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...

art given to the college at the time of its founding by Thomas Holloway. Founder's is home to one of the university's lecture theatres, the non-denominational chapel, and the reading room, which is open to students 24/7. The north tower is known as the Clock Tower, the south as the Dragon Tower (due to its dragon like gargoyles), and the centre tower as the Lantern Tower, housing a lantern which is very occasionally lit. Many of the college's main administrative offices remain within the Founder's Building. It is also a Hall of Residence for the campus, with rooms for over 550 students. A bar within the building is named "Crosslands" in honour of its architect. The original building plans as well as photographs at the time of completion are available for viewing in the Royal Holloway archives located in Founder's.

Filming location

The building has been featured in several films and television programmes including: *'' Jack Ryan'', (2019) *'' The Split'', (2018) College venue website, accessed 20 July 2021
/ref> *''Delirium'', (2017) *'' Avengers: Age of Ultron'', (2015) College website, accessed 27 January 2021
/ref> *''

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United States o ...

'', (2013) *''

Celebrity MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. In the UK, it is produced by the BBC. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 20 ...

'', (2012) *''

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

'' (2009) *'' Honest'' (2008) *''

Basic Instinct 2 ''Basic Instinct 2'' (also known as ''Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction'') is a 2006 erotic thriller film and the sequel to 1992's ''Basic Instinct''. The film was directed by Michael Caton-Jones and produced by Mario Kassar, Joel B. Michaels, ...

'' (2006) *''

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British crime drama television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the '' Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series (created by Caroline Graham), and broadcast on two channels of ...

'', ''Murder on St. Malley's Day'' (2002) *''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...

'', (2001) Filmed June, broadcast DecemberCollege website, accessed 6 August 2010
/ref> *''

Howards End ''Howards End'' is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. ''Howards End'' is considered by many to be Forster's masterpiece. The book was ...

'' (1992) *''

Salt and Pepper Salt and pepper is the common name for edible salt and ground black pepper, which are ubiquitously paired on Western dining tables as to allow for the additional seasoning of food after its preparation. During food preparation or cooking, they ...

'' (1968)

References

External links

Royal Holloway, University of London, website
{{Royal Holloway, University of London School buildings completed in 1881 Grade I listed buildings in Surrey Grade I listed educational buildings Gothic Revival architecture in Surrey 1881 establishments in England William Henry Crossland buildings